"I looked at Steve and I said, 'Steve, I'm going in...'"
All hail Bruce Springsteen, who is somehow 70 years of age yet looks and acts a
considerable deal younger.
Fresh off the great Springsteen on Broadway and his most recent album, the considered country stroll that is Western Stars, Springsteen is in rare form as of late.
There's another documentary of note, too, one that has
received rave reviews before Springsteen - who makes his directorial debut with this one - pitched up on Graham Norton's couch to tell the world about it.
It's no great newsflash that The Boss is a master raconteur, but if you need further proof, just watch the way Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro, Paul Rudd and Sienna Miller hang on his every word during a particularly Elvis-themed story.
Springsteen, like many, was a big fan of the iconic rock and roll king. And like many a fan, he wanted to pay his respects, only it didn't quite work out the way that he had hoped...
"It was 1975 and we were in Memphis," he recalled.
"Steven [Van Zandt] and I wanted to go to an all-night diner. So around 3am we got in a taxi cab - 'Yeah, there's one right outside Elvis' house!' - 'Elvis' house?! You know where Elvis lives? Take us there right now!' The taxi driver took us to Graceland and I got out, I saw there were some lights on in the house - you could see the house, it wasn't that far from the drive.
"The gates were locked, [there was] a stone wall. I looked at Steve and I said, 'Steve, I'm going in...' The taxi driver said, 'Hey man, they got big dogs over there, don't go over that wall'. I said, well, when's the opportunity going to come again?
"I jumped over the wall, ran up the drive, got to the front door and I was just about to knock and a security guy came out of the bushes. He said, 'Can I help you?', very casually. I said, 'Yes... is Elvis here?' He said, 'Well, Elvis is in Las Vegas'.
"I said, 'Okay, well, can you tell him - and I generally don't like to do this - that Bruce Springsteen was here? He may not know who that is, but I was just on the cover of Time and Newsweek.'
"He said, 'Yeah, I'll tell Elvis' and he came down and he walked me out and that's as close as I ever got to Elvis Presley."
What might have been...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbxd3A5E9Os
Clip via BBC
